HYBRID IAS Book Launch: 'Some Would Call This Living: An Anthology'

Please, join the zoom meeting here

The Danish author Herman Bang (1857–1912) was well known throughout Europe in his lifetime, especially in Germany, but had little impact in the English-speaking world, partly no doubt because of his homosexuality, for which he was hounded across Europe. This anthology of his writings in English translation is an attempt to remedy this lack by introducing a broad selection of his short stories and journalism to a new public. In the texts included in this volume, Bang reveals himself as a sharp-witted observer of the society and manners of his age, mercilessly puncturing hypocrisy and arrogance, while invoking indignant sympathy for the outcasts and failures of a ruthlessly competitive world.

This launch event will kick off with an introduction to Herman Bang and the anthology by author, critic and expert in Nordic literature Paul Binding. This will be followed by a panel discussion focusing in particular on the experience of reading and translating Bang's work. As part of our panel discussion, we would like to invite the translators Charlotte Barslund, Paul Russell Garrett and Prof Janet Garton (a founder and director of Norvik Press and Emeritus Professor at UEA) to share their experiences.

Participants

• Paul Binding is a novelist and literary and cultural critic. He is also a longstanding reviewer in leading periodicals of books of literary interest, especially connected with the Scandinavian and Baltic countries.  He has published full-length books on Ibsen (Norvik Press) and Hans Christian Andersen (Yale University Press) and translated two Andersen novellas for Angel Classics.  

• Charlotte Barslund translates Scandinavian novels and plays. Recent novels include Will and Testament, Long Live the Post Horn! and A House in Norway by Vigdis Hjorth, the Arctic crime novels The Girl Without Skin and Cold Fear by Mads Peder Nordbo and Resin by Ane Riel (shortlisted for the 2019 Petrona Award). She has worked with writers such as: Samuel Bjørk, Jo Nesbø, Karin Fossum, Thomas Enger, Jonas T. Bengtsson, Carsten Jensen, Lotte and Søren Hammer, Sissel-Jo Gazan and Lene Kaaberbøl. 

• Paul Russell Garrett is a literary and theatre translator from Danish and Norwegian. The Contract Killer by Benny Andersen (2013) was Paul’s first theatre translation, while fiction includes Companions and Vivian by Christina Hesselholdt (2017, 2019) and Lars Mytting’s The Sixteen Trees of the Somme (2017). He recently co-translated Siri Pettersen’s Raven Rings fantasy trilogy with Siân Mackie, with the final two books due out in 2021-2. His translation of Michael Strunge’s poems, Speed of Life, is published by Nordisk Books.

• Janet Garton is an Emeritus Professor of Scandinavian Literature and a director of Norvik Press. She is a specialist on nineteenth and twentieth-century Scandinavian literature, particularly the life and works of Amalie Skram. She has also translated several novels and plays from Norwegian and Danish, by authors such as Johan Borgen, Cecilie Løveid and Bjørg Vik. Her most recent translations are Erik Fosnes Hansen’s Lobster Life, Jan Kjærstad’s Berge and Kirsten Thorup’s The God of Chance. 

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